In at the corner: Northampton's James Wilson beats the Welsh cover
Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Dan Lucas, Kassam Stadium

6:30AM GMT 01 Dec 2014

Northampton returned to the top of the Premiership table with a comprehensive, if slightly scrappy, win against a London Welsh who did little to dispel the notion that they are relegation certainties.

The Saints offered little threat, perhaps made complacent by Calum Clark’s fifth-minute pushover try, at the start and the end, but won comfortably thanks to four tries in 13 minutes either side of half-time.

For all London Welsh’s endeavour both here and in the 26-5 defeat against Leicester last weekend, they still lack the ruthlessness to hurt teams. They dominated possession and territory in the first half but, after 25 minutes spent in the Northampton half, they allowed Stephen Myler the space to waltz through a gap. Two minutes later Samu Manoa scored from another rolling maul.

Northampton had created next to nothing in the first half and yet found themselves 0-19 to the good.

The bonus point was secured in the 43rd minute, when James Wilson came off his wing and produced a lovely pass out of the back of his hand to put Jamie Elliott over, and two ­minutes later Ben Foden slipped through a double tackle far too easily and turned it into the expected rout.

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Welsh managed to score when prop Taione Vea sniped over from close range, but James Wilson responded immediately with a superb finish, before Ben Nutley and Nic Reynolds exchanged tries.

Jim Mallinder, the Northampton coach, said: “It’s good game time for all 23 of our players. We got a few players off who have played a lot recently and we’ve got five points.”

Cipriani turns on style to seal Sale victory

A moment of magic from Danny Cipriani helped Sale to an 18-13 win against Newcastle as they moved up to sixth in the Aviva Premiership.

Cipriani’s 68th-minute chip and chase set up Johnny Leota for the decisive try as Sale stood firm in the face of severe Newcastle pressure in the closing stages to record their third consecutive victory.

In the day’s other game, Gloucester won an error-strewn match 21-9 against London Irish at the Madejski Stadium. Full-back Steve McColl and wing Henry Purdy scored for Gloucester as they halted a run of three league defeats.

Brian Smith was critical of his London Irish side. The director of rugby said: “We are very disappointed; there were inaccuracies across the board. We have no one to blame but ourselves and we just have to be better. We are in a pretty bad space right now.”